Harry potter and The Halfblood Prince
by whoisillidan
Summary: Harry trains with Dumbledore in a race against time to battle Voldemort and his minions
1. Default Chapter

An observer high above Privet drive will observe symmetry in everything below. So ordered, that it was unnerving. But every symmetry has its own share of chaos. Currently the chaos was mowing the lawn in front of no4 privet drive. Uncle Vernon wanted Harry to stay inside the house and stay put, but Harry insisted saying it would take his mind off things. And his mind has many things like Sirius, the prophecy and his friend's safety. Every year he wanted to get out dursley's as quickly as he can but this year he wanted to stay "Home" not because of safety but because he hated to get those sympathic glances, advices. He missed Sirius badly; he knew his only chance for a real family has passed to the other realm. The word family reminded him of the weasley's, Hermione, Prof Lupin, Hagrid and Dumbledore. He knew they meant good for him and would give up anything for him. But everyone had their own problems and it would be unfair if he dumps his problem on them. He was so lost in these thoughts that he overshot his lawn and was about to enter no 5. But a snicker from behind jolted him to senses, he turned around.

"I thought work was about keeping mind off things" said Tonks" you should have 'constant vigilance'".

"My problems are too simple to ignore" Harry said sarcastically. "Why are you here anyway, is it guard duty" added Harry indignantly.

"I am here to deliver a message, there is another guard not me" Tonks answered "and you need the protection anyway".

"I can take care of myself" Harry answered.

"This muggle neighborhood prevents me from testing how good you are at taking care of yourself" Tonks answered "anyway you are going to be shifted to the new headquarters' tomorrow".

"New headquarters'? What about grimauld place" asked Harry.

Tonks looked away and answered "After Sirius's death, the property is in dispute. So we moved out until that is resolved"

Harry looked down downcast and said "It's my fault isn't it"

Tonks held Harry's hand and said lightly "No one blames you for his death, Harry"

"I should have listened to Hermione" said Harry ruefully.

"We often act illogically if our loved ones are in trouble" Tonks said "time will heal everything"

Harry looked skeptical but said nothing

"Right, Dumbledore is coming to take you in a day or two. So my job here is over, let's go somewhere to eat before I leave"

"I don't want to be a burden" Harry said hesitantly.

Tonks laughed and dragged him towards magnolia crescent. They sat at a diner and Tonks ordered for both of them. She looked at Harry who was looking at her quizzically.

"Muggle and magical restaurants are similar, so why are you looking like that; moreover my dad is a muggleborn".

Harry looked gratified.

"So what owl results are you expecting?" Tonks asked.

"Except for history, I wrote everything else acceptably well. Defense was particularly good. I hope to become an auror like you but I am afraid that my potion score might be a problem"

"I don't expect that to be a problem for you. The auror crops will be more than willing to accommodate 'the boy who lived'" answered Tonks impishly "anyway you can always become a hit wizard if you are good at defense, they are a little below aurors but are heavily used for battles"

"How is Professor Lupin coping" asked Harry.

"He spends a lot of his time locked up in Buckbeak's room. He hardly speaks to anyone." Tonks answered sadly.

"Don't worry he will come around" she added without conviction.

"What is Voldemort doing" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore will tell you everything, Harry" Tonks answered evasively.

"Hiding information does nothing" Harry said angrily.

"I am under strict orders not to tell you anything"

"Whose"

"Molly"

"Mrs. Weasley!"

"Yes, she says you need rest before all this and I agree with her" concluded Tonks.

Harry grumbled but didn't say anything. After a quick pat on his back, Tonks disapparated. Harry walked home filled with thoughts. The moment he entered the house, aunt petunia called him for dinner, he declined and said he ate outside with a friend. He entered his bedroom ignoring his aunt's rants of wasting her work. He saw Hedwig was not in her perch.

Must be on a hunting expedition, mused Harry. He picked up the daily prophet lying on his bed and started rereading it. It was full of articles about fudge's incompetence and the corruption in the ministry. The editorials were all about how a change of leadership is needed at this critical juncture. He was mentioned in one or two articles, mainly as a victim of fudge's power tactics. He tossed the paper on the table and yawned. As he was about to lie down, Hedwig flew in, holding an envelope in her beak. He took the envelope from Hedwig and placed it on the table. He placed her on the perch and returned to the table. As He slit the envelope open, three letters fell out. He picked them up and read the first one.

_Dear Harry,_

_How are you? Stupid question isn't it .My sources say that you have been deep in thought lately. Don't brood about Sirius too much. He wouldn't want you to be sad and depressed. Anyway to the good stuff, Hermione arrived at the burrow yesterday (her parents are attending a conference in New York). Ron is being a git as always. I am having fun with him by riling him about dean. Hermione is reading books as usual. And yes the BIG news, bill proposed to fleur yesterday. The wedding might be in the next month. I can't wait for it. I will see you soon. Eat well._

_Bye_

_Ginny _

Typical Ginny, short and sweet, Harry concluded. He went on the next one.

_Dear Harry,_

_Are the muggles treating you well? We are moving to the new headquarters tomorrow. Dad said that you will also be coming tomorrow, so we can have a good time there. The twins are doing extremely well; they were even telling something about opening a branch in hogsmeade. They were inducted in the order, something about weapon development. Bill proposed to fleur. The wedding is in the next month. Mom is hyperactive and is thinking about names for babies already. Hermione came home yesterday, her folks went somewhere. I will be waiting for you tomorrow. _

_See you soon_

_Ron_

Harry moved on to the next letter, he knew it would be from Hermione.

_Dear Harry,_

_How are you doing? Are you still depressed? Please snap out of it Harry. Being depressed will not make life easier than it is. We want you to be happy for yourself. As for myself I am staying at the burrow. My parents have gone to New York to attend a medical conference. They wanted me to join them but I felt I would be more useful here, after all we have war on hands and I want to do my bit. I have some information about our new headquarters, It happens to be a mansion or villa with large grounds (there are planning a padlock for Buckbeak, so the grounds must be huge). I am reviewing for the next term, a little preparation before doesn't hurt. Ginny is having fun with Ron. Bill proposed to Fleur yesterday, I think the wedding is in the next month. I hope our new headquarters is good._

_Take care_

_Love _

_Hermione _

Harry put down the letter and stared into the ceiling as thoughts swirled in his mind. He thanked god for giving such good friends who cared for him deeply. He knew he had to defeat Voldemort for giving them a chance to lead life peacefully. As he fell into sleep, his thoughts were about how to defeat Voldemort.

**HEADMASTERS OFFICE, HOGWARTS**

Dumbledore was lost in thoughts as he stared into the fire. His thoughts were all on how Harry might be; he knew that he was pivotal in this second war. He even knew that this war will be short and bloody as Voldemort will move quickly to take out his only adversary. He knew preparing Harry as quickly he can is the only way to prevent this war to end as a disaster to the light. He feared for Harry because he knew Harry is brave but is no match to Voldemort in terms of power or knowledge. He cared for Harry as his own grandson. He vowed to protect Harry with his life. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Severus Snape entered his room looking tired and weary.

"Are you alright Severus, you look very tired" Dumbledore asked.

"I have been through worse before headmaster" replied Snape with a sneer.

"What happened at the meeting" asked Dumbledore.

"The dark lord was furious for some reason. He cursed every one present at the meeting; he said everyone was getting sloppy. He wanted the recruiting to happen quicker. He sent envoys to the vampires. He wanted me to prepare a potion which will render him immune to magical damage at least for time. He sent Bellatrix and a team of death eaters for an attack somewhere.

He is planning to test potter's defenses in a few days. He is assembling a team mostly consisting of new recruits and expendable death eaters."

Dumbledore was thinking furiously about what to do, he can place a strike team and take out the attack but they were in a position where Voldemort can lose a whole team but they cannot afford to lose even one member. He hit upon an idea and was pleased by it; he can kill two birds with a single stone. He will have to visit Cornelius later this night. His thoughts were broken by a cough; he totally forgot Severus was still here.

"Is there anything I can do for you Severus?" asked Dumbledore.

"You remember our talk before about that potter brat" Severus asked viciously.

"Yes, I remember about our talk about 'Harry' and I am still bent on teaching Harry myself" Dumbledore said

"You can ask that werewolf or moody to teach that brat, why do you want to do it" Severus asked.

"The magic I am going to teach Harry is advanced like occlumency and you what happened the last time I assigned someone else to teach him" Dumbledore replied.

Snape winced but didn't say anything and got up to leave, he glanced at the headmaster who was lost in thought again. He shook his head and left for his dungeons. The headmaster sat like that for sometime and then got and stepped into the fire and shouted "The ministry of magic".

**OFFICE OF MINISTER OF MAGIC**

Cornelius fudge was a nervous man these days. All that he feared had come true. He knew the public's confidence in him has plummeted to rock bottom. He alienated key figures opposed to Voldemort. The public knew nothing about the large donations he received from Lucius Malfoy, the moment they come to know of this he knew they will be after his head. He was waiting for an opportunity to improve his rating.

The opportunity was currently walking towards him in long striding steps. Dumbledore entered the room without knocking as he was sure that Cornelius will be more than willing to listen to him. As he saw Cornelius worried face that he was thinking about the predicament he was facing.

"Good evening Cornelius"

"Dumbledore how are you? Do you want me to do anything for you or Harry" fudge asked eagerly.

"Thank you, but your help is not needed right now for us. I am here to tell you something important. I have come to know from my sources that Voldemort is planning to attack Harry's house and I want the ministry's help to guard it."

"I will ask the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to post aurors around his house. Is there anything more I can do for you Dumbledore?" fudge asked. "That will be all Cornelius. I will see you later. Thank you"

As Dumbledore got up to leave, frantic person came barging into the room and shouted "Sir there has been an attack on Amelia bones". It took less than a second for Dumbledore to realize that it was Percy. Percy avoided making eye contact with Dumbledore and looked straight past him towards minister fudge.

"Is she alright?" fudge asked anxiously

"She was able to port key away to safety. None of the other family members were there but the house was destroyed. She contacted us and asked for auror reinforcements as her family might return home."

"Send a dozen aurors to the site. I will come later to inspect the site."

Percy turned on the heel and walked out of the room.

Dumbledore shook his head and apparated away

* * *

A/N : how is this story, this is my first fanfic so reviews are most welcome, flames are also welcome. i will update soon 


	2. chapter2

Disclaimer: Obviously the series doesn't belong to me.

Harry woke up drenched in sweat, his scar was throbbing painfully. Voldemort was angry, no livid; He could feel the feeling course through body. He looked around; Hedwig was sleeping with her head under a wing. He cursed Voldemort as he got up; he knew he will not be able to sleep anytime soon. He sat on the window sill and gazed out. He savored the serenity of the night. He knew would miss this peace in coming days. He knew Voldemort didn't carry out any major attacks so far. He couldn't phantom why he wasn't attacking. His knowledge about the first war was sketchy but he knew people were still terrified about it. His thoughts strayed to professor Trelawney's second prophecy "THE DARK LORD LIES ALONE AND FRIENDLESS, ABANDONED BY HIS FOLLOWERS. HIS SERVANT HAS BEEN CHAINED THESE TWELVE YEARS. TONIGHT, BEFORE MIDNIGHT... THE SERVANT WILL BREAK FREE AND SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER. THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AGAIN WITH HIS SERVANTS AID, GREATER AND MORE TERRIBLE THAN EVER HE WAS. TONIGHT... BEFORE MIDNIGHT... THE SERVANT... WILL SET OU... TO REJOIN... HIS MASTER...". He was particularly disturbed by the line "MORE TERRIBLE THAN EVER". How horrifying would this reign be was all Harry could think.

His mind came up with frightening scenarios. He shook silently as each of the scenario unfolded in his mind. He cleared his mind of these thoughts and looked towards the horizon. He stayed looking like that for some time and as his eyelids grew heavy he retreated to his bed and slept.

Aunt petunia woke him up for his breakfast. He got ready quickly and went down to the kitchen. He was surprised to see all three dursley's looking tense.

"What is it again" muttered Harry to himself.

As the doorbell rang, Dudley waded his way to the door and picked up the mail. Harry saw an envelope labeled results. Then it hit him.

"So, they were waiting for Dudley's exam results. I wonder what new lows he achieved." Harry mused. By seeing the rapidly purpling face of Uncle Vernon he could judge that Dudley was a disaster. He moved in to finish his breakfast before any unsavory event takes place. Aunt Petunia also sensed danger and called everyone for breakfast to ward it off for the time being. Harry was tempted to ask Dudley his results but restrained himself. He got up to leave when he remembered about his departure from privet drive. He knew he would only aggravate his uncle by mentioning it in front of him, so he deferred it until his uncle went to his office. When Uncle Vernon's car left the driveway, Harry made his way to Aunt Petunia.

"Aunt Petunia, my friends are coming to pick me up today"

Aunt Petunia merely shrugged and didn't even turned back to face him. Harry stepped out and pondered over what to do, he decided that he better pack his things and get ready. He went to his bedroom and started to arrange his possessions into the trunk, as he cleared debris inside, his fingers brushed on something sharp. He picked up all the glass pieces gingerly and placed them in a pouch and placed in a corner of the trunk.

"I will ask Mrs.Weasley to fix it, may be it will work" Harry mused. Packing didn't take much time as he was back only for a few days and most of his possessions were still in his trunk. He decided to go to Mrs.Figg's house to know when Dumbledore will arrive. He crossed the lawn in front of her house and knocked on door. Mrs.Figg ushered him into her house without a word.

"So, Harry what brings you here." she finally said as she closed the door behind her.

"Professor Dumbledore is supposed to pick me up today for taking me to the new headquarters. I wanted to know when he will come."

"I will find out. Please make yourself at home Harry" with that Mrs.Figg went to room and he heard her fire call someone. She came back and said "Harry, he will be here in a few minutes, so you can stay here." Harry just sat there on the sofa thinking of his earlier visits to Mrs.Figg's house, they were not fun exactly but this house was not half as bad as the dursley's. He felt movement near his ankles he bent to see one of Mrs.Figg's many cats brushing against his foot. He wondered what squibs found fascinating about cats. His thoughts were interrupted by Mrs.Figg as she offered him what looked like a pumpkin pasties. He reluctantly took one and ate a part of it and dumped the rest as she left him alone. He waited for about an hour when he heard a soft pop. He turned around to find Dumbledore standing out Mrs.Figg's house.

"I am sorry, Harry, I was caught up in the ministry. I hope you are packed, we will leave as soon as you ready"

Harry nodded and accompanied Dumbledore to No4. They walked in silence until they reached his bedroom. Dumbledore shrunk Harry's trunk and handed Harry one end of a stick and activated the port key. Harry stumbled as they landed near what appeared to be a manor. As Harry watched the manor in awe as it was huge, almost as big as Hogwarts.

"Harry, shall we move inside?"

Harry turned towards Dumbledore and said "I am sorry for damaging your office professor."

"I can understand your behavior Harry; you lost someone you loved deeply. But you need to control emotions to find peace within yourself. I am also sorry for keeping information from you. I want to repair our relation Harry. I am going to train you for your destiny. Let us go inside where we can talk in detail"

"Professor, Can you tell me about the first war?"

"It was terrible. There was chaos everywhere; important people disappeared with no trace. He had spies everywhere; he could hit people even in the safest place. He wanted to weaken the system from within and then capture it. Very few institutions were stable, like Hogwarts, Gringotts. But I fear that this war will be more brutal."

"Professor, do you think I can beat him?"

"Right now I don't think you will last even a few seconds in a direct duel with him. After all, his knowledge of magic is vast and he has more experience than you. But with training you might be able to beat him."

They entered a magnificent hall. Harry was mesmerized by the beauty of the hall. Patterns of phoenixes were engraved in what appeared to be ruby; a huge chandelier flooded the hall with light. The whole place seemed alive, even though Harry didn't see any form of life within the manor.

"Professor, what is this place?"

"Harry, this was my home when I was of your age. I left it to leave some bad memories behind. Though, now that we have very few options left, I shifted the headquarters here. I know you won't be happy in grimauld place. I know how it will be to live in a place where your loved ones lived." Dumbledore seemed to remember someone as he said the last sentence. Harry didn't pursue the subject.

Dumbledore led Harry to a wing and showed him a room. The room has very simple; it had a few racks, a table, a large bed and a few chairs. Dumbledore took out the trunk and enlarged it. He turned towards Harry and said.

"This is your room Harry. You will stay here for this summer. If you can come to my office, we will discuss your training"

Harry nodded and followed the headmaster to a room which looked remarkably like the headmaster's office in Hogwarts; even Fawkes was present on the perch. The moment Fawkes saw him he flew towards Harry and landed on his shoulder. Harry observed that eyes of the phoenix were tearing but he couldn't understand why. Dumbledore watched the phoenix and thought "My friend his wounds are not physical for you to heal them. They are emotional which we must heal." Dumbledore sat and motioned Harry to do the same.

"Harry I will teach you about magic that is more useful to you like nature magic and arcane magic. These techniques are very powerful and require high power levels. I will teach auror level spells and other normal spells. I will also revise your transfiguration and charms. But you must understand that sometimes I may be unavailable due to unavoidable circumstances then you have to train with others. I also…." Dumbledore was interrupted by fire call. A very distraught looking fudge appeared in the fire.

"Dumbledore, please come to the ministry quickly. It is very important"

Dumbledore turned to Harry and said

"Harry you wait in the manor, the rest of the order will arrive soon. We will talk later." With that Dumbledore grabbed some floo powder and disappeared in to the flames. Harry just shrugged and got up to explore the manor.

Harry was bored; there were no interesting rooms in the manor, all were either reading rooms or bedrooms. But as he entered the next room he could feel that this room was different. It was long with two platforms; he looked at the paintings and concluded that this was a dueling room. He found a door at the end of the room. He opened it to find the most magnificent library; it looked as great as Hogwart's library. He knew Hermione will never leave this place except maybe for lunch and dinner. He explored the dungeons to find a potions lab and it had it own library. He went outside the manor and observed its grounds; he concluded that they can play quidditch here without a problem. As he was observing the ground, he saw that a black object was coming towards him from the sky. He turned towards it and tensed but relaxed as he saw it was Buckbeak and Professor Lupin. They made a rather smooth landing. Harry set out towards them.

"How are you doing professor?"

"I will live Harry. I have lost friends before but still every loss is hard for me. I will get over it soon. How are you doing?"

"I don't have time to mourn professor. I need to do other things which are far more important than that."

"Harry don't keep everything bottled inside. It is not good for your health and mind. Talk about it to someone if not me. Lot of people care about you Harry. You will never be alone."

Harry shrugged and accompanied the professor inside. The professor's room was on another wing. As Harry was leaving Lupin's room, Lupin stopped him and asked him to wait. He took out a miniature firebolt and enlarged it and gave it to Harry

"You ban has been revoked Harry. You can play quidditch again. I suggest you go practice outside."

Harry raced outside and mounted on his broom. He flew like he flew never before; he savored every moment of his flight. He was free from every burden and he let his heart take control of his flight. He looked down to see few people were approaching the manor. He dived to meet them. As he neared them he could make out that they were the Weasley's. He landed in front of them and rushed towards them. He was engulfed in a group hug and he was nearly choked. He was bombarded with questions as Mrs.Weasley checked on him and was telling him off for not eating well. He just smiled and he knew he didn't lose a family, he just lost a member of it.

A/N: how is the second chapter? plz review. The next update will be in a few days


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